MISHAWAKA, Ind. — CIU women's volleyball wrapped up play at the Michiana Mayhem Tournament on Saturday with another pair of five-set battles, falling to No. 22 Marian University (Ind.) in the morning before bouncing back to defeat Aquinas College (Mich.) in the afternoon.
Match One: CIU vs. Marian University — Marian 3, CIU 2 (24-26, 25-16, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12)
The Rams started strong, edging Marian in a tight opening set, and regained the lead after a dominant third frame. However, the Knights responded in the final two sets to hand CIU a narrow loss.
Eevy Bellar powered the Rams' attack with 10 kills on a .409 hitting percentage, while
Katelynn Mundy and
Zcearia James each added seven and eight kills. Setter
Skylar Dewhirst and
Maria Ferreira combined for 30 assists to fuel the offense. Defensively, libero
Kelcey Mangum posted 30 digs, while
Lydia Gustafson contributed seven blocks.
Match Two: CIU vs. Aquinas College — CIU 3, Aquinas 2 (17-25, 25-21, 28-26, 18-25, 15-13)
In the afternoon match, CIU outlasted Aquinas in another five-set thriller to finish the tournament with a winning record. After dropping the first set, the Rams battled back to claim sets two and three, including a marathon 28-26 win in the third.
Four Rams reached double-figure kills, led by
Katelynn Mundy with 11. James, Bellar, and
Lydia Gustafson each tallied 10 kills apiece, while Dewhirst orchestrated the offense with 37 assists. Mangum once again anchored the defense with 33 digs, and James added two block assists at the net.
With the split, CIU moved to 5-4 on the season after four matches in two days against quality opponents in Indiana. The Rams return to the court to host Brenau University (Ga.) in the home opener on Sept. 19.
